The literature on theoretical reason has been dominated by epistemological concerns, treatments of practical reason by ethical concerns. This book overcomes the limitations of dealing with each ...
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The literature on theoretical reason has been dominated by epistemological concerns, treatments of practical reason by ethical concerns. This book overcomes the limitations of dealing with each separately. It sets out a comprehensive theory of rationality applicable to both practical and theoretical reason. In both domains, the book explains how experience grounds rationality, delineates the structure of central elements, and attacks the egocentric conception of rationality. It establishes the rationality of altruism and thereby supports major moral principles. The concluding part describes the pluralism and relativity the book's conception of rationality accommodates and, taking the unified account of theoretical and practical rationality in that light, constructs a theory of global rationality — the overall rationality of persons.Less

The Architecture of Reason : The Structure and Substance of Rationality

Robert Audi

Published in print: 2002-11-07

The literature on theoretical reason has been dominated by epistemological concerns, treatments of practical reason by ethical concerns. This book overcomes the limitations of dealing with each separately. It sets out a comprehensive theory of rationality applicable to both practical and theoretical reason. In both domains, the book explains how experience grounds rationality, delineates the structure of central elements, and attacks the egocentric conception of rationality. It establishes the rationality of altruism and thereby supports major moral principles. The concluding part describes the pluralism and relativity the book's conception of rationality accommodates and, taking the unified account of theoretical and practical rationality in that light, constructs a theory of global rationality — the overall rationality of persons.

How could we use living cells to perform computation? Would our definition of computation change as a consequence of this? Could such a cell-computer outperform digital computers? These are some of ...
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How could we use living cells to perform computation? Would our definition of computation change as a consequence of this? Could such a cell-computer outperform digital computers? These are some of the questions that the study of Membrane Computing tries to answer and are at the base of what is treated by this monograph. Descriptional and computational complexity of models in Membrane Computing are the two lines of research on which is the focus here. In this context this book reports the results of only some of the models present in this framework. The models considered here represent a very relevant part of all the models introduced so far in the study of Membrane Computing. They are in between the most studied models in the field and they cover a broad range of features (using symbol objects or string objects, based only on communications, inspired by intra- and intercellular processes, having or not having a tree as underlying structure, etc.) that gives a grasp of the enormous flexibility of this framework. Links with biology and Petri nets are constant through this book. This book aims also to inspire research. This book gives suggestions for research of various levels of difficulty and this book clearly indicates their importance and the relevance of the possible outcomes. Readers new to this field of research will find the provided examples particularly useful in the understanding of the treated topics.Less

Computing with Cells : Advances in Membrane Computing

Pierluigi Frisco

Published in print: 2009-05-21

How could we use living cells to perform computation? Would our definition of computation change as a consequence of this? Could such a cell-computer outperform digital computers? These are some of the questions that the study of Membrane Computing tries to answer and are at the base of what is treated by this monograph. Descriptional and computational complexity of models in Membrane Computing are the two lines of research on which is the focus here. In this context this book reports the results of only some of the models present in this framework. The models considered here represent a very relevant part of all the models introduced so far in the study of Membrane Computing. They are in between the most studied models in the field and they cover a broad range of features (using symbol objects or string objects, based only on communications, inspired by intra- and intercellular processes, having or not having a tree as underlying structure, etc.) that gives a grasp of the enormous flexibility of this framework. Links with biology and Petri nets are constant through this book. This book aims also to inspire research. This book gives suggestions for research of various levels of difficulty and this book clearly indicates their importance and the relevance of the possible outcomes. Readers new to this field of research will find the provided examples particularly useful in the understanding of the treated topics.

This chapter presents a theoretical framework to analyse the interaction between ‘history-making’ and ‘everyday’ practices of integration in the EU. The framework, based on liberal ...
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This chapter presents a theoretical framework to analyse the interaction between ‘history-making’ and ‘everyday’ practices of integration in the EU. The framework, based on liberal intergovernmentalism and institutionalised international governance, was applied to the Amsterdam Treaty as a plausibility test. The framework provided insights on how future politics of ‘everyday integration’ may interact with the ‘grand bargain’ of the Treaty, including the consequences of the 2000 intergovernmental conference.Less

The European Union After Amsterdam: Towards a Theoretical Approach to (Differentiated) Integration

Sieglinde Gstöhl

Published in print: 2000-12-21

This chapter presents a theoretical framework to analyse the interaction between ‘history-making’ and ‘everyday’ practices of integration in the EU. The framework, based on liberal intergovernmentalism and institutionalised international governance, was applied to the Amsterdam Treaty as a plausibility test. The framework provided insights on how future politics of ‘everyday integration’ may interact with the ‘grand bargain’ of the Treaty, including the consequences of the 2000 intergovernmental conference.

This is a study of Hegel’s critique of Kant’s theoretical philosophy. Its main purpose is to defend the thesis that Hegel offers us a compelling critique of, and alternative to, the conception of ...
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This is a study of Hegel’s critique of Kant’s theoretical philosophy. Its main purpose is to defend the thesis that Hegel offers us a compelling critique of, and alternative to, the conception of cognition Kant argues for in his ‘Critical’ period. It examines key features of what Kant identifies as the ‘discursive’ character of our mode of cognition, and considers Hegel’s reasons for arguing that these features condemn Kant’s theoretical philosophy to skepticism as well as dualism. This study presents in a sympathetic light Hegel’s claim to derive from certain Kantian doctrines clues to a superior form of idealism, a form of idealism that better captures the nature of our cognitive powers and their relation to objects.Less

Hegel's Critique of Kant

Sally Sedgwick

Published in print: 2012-03-29

This is a study of Hegel’s critique of Kant’s theoretical philosophy. Its main purpose is to defend the thesis that Hegel offers us a compelling critique of, and alternative to, the conception of cognition Kant argues for in his ‘Critical’ period. It examines key features of what Kant identifies as the ‘discursive’ character of our mode of cognition, and considers Hegel’s reasons for arguing that these features condemn Kant’s theoretical philosophy to skepticism as well as dualism. This study presents in a sympathetic light Hegel’s claim to derive from certain Kantian doctrines clues to a superior form of idealism, a form of idealism that better captures the nature of our cognitive powers and their relation to objects.

This chapter provides further argument justifying the claim that our use of finite dependency networks entails no loss at all of theoretical generality, as far as belief revision on the part of ...
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This chapter provides further argument justifying the claim that our use of finite dependency networks entails no loss at all of theoretical generality, as far as belief revision on the part of rational creatures is concerned. Some basic concepts in mathematical logic are defined, to lay the groundwork for the metatheorem, due to Harvey Friedman, that is proved in the next chapter.Less

The Finitary Predicament

Neil Tennant

Published in print: 2012-06-14

This chapter provides further argument justifying the claim that our use of finite dependency networks entails no loss at all of theoretical generality, as far as belief revision on the part of rational creatures is concerned. Some basic concepts in mathematical logic are defined, to lay the groundwork for the metatheorem, due to Harvey Friedman, that is proved in the next chapter.

Modelling of heterogeneous processes, such as electrochemical reactions, extraction, or ion-exchange, usually requires solving the transport problem associated with the process. Since the processes ...
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Modelling of heterogeneous processes, such as electrochemical reactions, extraction, or ion-exchange, usually requires solving the transport problem associated with the process. Since the processes at the phase boundary are described by scalar quantities and transport quantities are vectors or tensors, the coupling of them can take place only via conservation of mass, charge, or momentum. In this book transport of ionic species is addressed in a versatile manner, emphasizing the mutual coupling of fluxes in particular. Treatment is based on the formalism of irreversible thermodynamics, i.e., on linear (ionic) phenomenological equations, from which the most frequently used Nernst-Planck equation is derived. Limitations and assumptions made are discussed in detail. The Nernst-Planck equation is applied to selected problems at the electrodes and in membranes. Mathematical derivations are presented so that the reader can learn the methodology of solving transport problems. Each chapter contains a large number of exercises.Less

Ionic Transport Processes : in Electrochemistry and Membrane Science

Kyösti KontturiLasse MurtomäkiJosé A. Manzanares

Published in print: 2008-07-10

Modelling of heterogeneous processes, such as electrochemical reactions, extraction, or ion-exchange, usually requires solving the transport problem associated with the process. Since the processes at the phase boundary are described by scalar quantities and transport quantities are vectors or tensors, the coupling of them can take place only via conservation of mass, charge, or momentum. In this book transport of ionic species is addressed in a versatile manner, emphasizing the mutual coupling of fluxes in particular. Treatment is based on the formalism of irreversible thermodynamics, i.e., on linear (ionic) phenomenological equations, from which the most frequently used Nernst-Planck equation is derived. Limitations and assumptions made are discussed in detail. The Nernst-Planck equation is applied to selected problems at the electrodes and in membranes. Mathematical derivations are presented so that the reader can learn the methodology of solving transport problems. Each chapter contains a large number of exercises.

This book develops the quantum theory of solids from the basic principles of quantum mechanics. The emphasis is on a single statement of the ideas underlying the various approximations that have to ...
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This book develops the quantum theory of solids from the basic principles of quantum mechanics. The emphasis is on a single statement of the ideas underlying the various approximations that have to be used in the study of this subject. Care is taken to separate sound arguments from conjecture. The treatment covers the electron theory of metals as well as the dynamics of crystals, including the author's work on the thermal conductivity of crystals.Less

Quantum Theory of Solids

R. E. Peierls

Published in print: 2001-02-01

This book develops the quantum theory of solids from the basic principles of quantum mechanics. The emphasis is on a single statement of the ideas underlying the various approximations that have to be used in the study of this subject. Care is taken to separate sound arguments from conjecture. The treatment covers the electron theory of metals as well as the dynamics of crystals, including the author's work on the thermal conductivity of crystals.

This book is based on the Arne Ryde Lectures in 2002. The book suggests a conceptual framework for studying strategic learning and highlights theoretical developments in the area. It discusses the ...
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This book is based on the Arne Ryde Lectures in 2002. The book suggests a conceptual framework for studying strategic learning and highlights theoretical developments in the area. It discusses the interactive learning problem; reinforcement and regret; equilibrium; conditional no-regret learning; prediction, postdiction, and calibration; fictitious play and its variants; Bayesian learning; and hypothesis testing. The book’s framework emphasizes the amount of information required to implement different types of learning rules, criteria for evaluating their performance, and alternative notions of equilibrium to which they converge. The book also stresses the limits of what can be achieved: for a given type of game and a given amount of information, there may exist no learning procedure that satisfies certain reasonable criteria of performance and convergence.Less

Strategic Learning and its Limits

H. Peyton Young

Published in print: 2004-11-04

This book is based on the Arne Ryde Lectures in 2002. The book suggests a conceptual framework for studying strategic learning and highlights theoretical developments in the area. It discusses the interactive learning problem; reinforcement and regret; equilibrium; conditional no-regret learning; prediction, postdiction, and calibration; fictitious play and its variants; Bayesian learning; and hypothesis testing. The book’s framework emphasizes the amount of information required to implement different types of learning rules, criteria for evaluating their performance, and alternative notions of equilibrium to which they converge. The book also stresses the limits of what can be achieved: for a given type of game and a given amount of information, there may exist no learning procedure that satisfies certain reasonable criteria of performance and convergence.

This chapter summarizes the second case study of this book and examines its theoretical implications. They are situated in three main areas. First of all, the preceding chapters have shown that only ...
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This chapter summarizes the second case study of this book and examines its theoretical implications. They are situated in three main areas. First of all, the preceding chapters have shown that only the pro-theory can provide an adequate analysis of Short Do Replies. The type of pro-theory advocated here differs from its predecessors, however, in its technical implementation, in the type of argumentation that is provided in its support, and in the empirical divide it makes between PF-deletion and pro. Secondly, the second case study has provided evidence for the existence and specific role of two PolPs in the dialect Dutch IP-domain, and for the independent existence of Agr s P. Thirdly, the second case study has argued in favor of an analysis of discourse particles that fully integrates them into the functional structure of the clause.Less

Conclusion and Theoretical Implications

Jeroen van Craenenbroeck

Published in print: 2009-12-17

This chapter summarizes the second case study of this book and examines its theoretical implications. They are situated in three main areas. First of all, the preceding chapters have shown that only the pro-theory can provide an adequate analysis of Short Do Replies. The type of pro-theory advocated here differs from its predecessors, however, in its technical implementation, in the type of argumentation that is provided in its support, and in the empirical divide it makes between PF-deletion and pro. Secondly, the second case study has provided evidence for the existence and specific role of two PolPs in the dialect Dutch IP-domain, and for the independent existence of AgrsP. Thirdly, the second case study has argued in favor of an analysis of discourse particles that fully integrates them into the functional structure of the clause.

The virtue ethics movement in recent philosophical ethics can usefully be divided into two quite separate streams of thought. Some have turned to the texts of Plato and Aristotle for new answers to ...
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The virtue ethics movement in recent philosophical ethics can usefully be divided into two quite separate streams of thought. Some have turned to the texts of Plato and Aristotle for new answers to established questions in philosophical ethics, while others have sought a vantage point from which the basic questions of the field could themselves be put in question. The aim of this book is to elaborate and defend a version of the second, more radical sort of virtue ethics. The book begins with a fundamental reconsideration of the way in which thought makes itself practical in temporally extended activities and lives. This reconsideration yields an alternative picture of the self — a picture with recognizably Aristotelian and Platonic elements — and puts that picture to work in retrieving an unfamiliar conception of the proper task of philosophical ethics, one that provides a suitable home for retrieving the virtue concepts. The critical bite of the book is directed in the first instance at ideas that are prevalent among philosophers. Yet there is reason to think that these philosophical ideas express a conception of the self that shapes contemporary Western culture, and that hinders our capacity to make full sense of our activities, passions, and lives, or to attain full articulacy about the values to which we might hope to answer. The book argues that the rise of the fact/value distinction and of the characteristically modern distinction between person‐relative and impersonal goods are best understood as a story of encroaching confusion and not as the story of progressive discovery that they are often taken to be. The book culminates in an attempt to show that the ethical and epistemic virtues conduce to a single, monistic sort of goodness that fosters intimate relationships as well as healthy political community, and that overcomes the putative opposition between self‐interest and morality.Less

The Retrieval of Ethics

Talbot Brewer

Published in print: 2009-06-01

The virtue ethics movement in recent philosophical ethics can usefully be divided into two quite separate streams of thought. Some have turned to the texts of Plato and Aristotle for new answers to established questions in philosophical ethics, while others have sought a vantage point from which the basic questions of the field could themselves be put in question. The aim of this book is to elaborate and defend a version of the second, more radical sort of virtue ethics. The book begins with a fundamental reconsideration of the way in which thought makes itself practical in temporally extended activities and lives. This reconsideration yields an alternative picture of the self — a picture with recognizably Aristotelian and Platonic elements — and puts that picture to work in retrieving an unfamiliar conception of the proper task of philosophical ethics, one that provides a suitable home for retrieving the virtue concepts. The critical bite of the book is directed in the first instance at ideas that are prevalent among philosophers. Yet there is reason to think that these philosophical ideas express a conception of the self that shapes contemporary Western culture, and that hinders our capacity to make full sense of our activities, passions, and lives, or to attain full articulacy about the values to which we might hope to answer. The book argues that the rise of the fact/value distinction and of the characteristically modern distinction between person‐relative and impersonal goods are best understood as a story of encroaching confusion and not as the story of progressive discovery that they are often taken to be. The book culminates in an attempt to show that the ethical and epistemic virtues conduce to a single, monistic sort of goodness that fosters intimate relationships as well as healthy political community, and that overcomes the putative opposition between self‐interest and morality.